


there's a reason these windows don't have shades

by ekbelfield



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, F/M, First Meetings, Light-Hearted, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, communicating via whiteboard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 19:47:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21142217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ekbelfield/pseuds/ekbelfield
Summary: Oliver Queen is the new window washer at QC (Thanks Robert!).  Felicity is an employee who keeps getting startled by the unexpected appearance of a person outside her fifth-floor window.





	there's a reason these windows don't have shades

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Friends!
> 
> This was inspired by the fact that my new office has very dirty windows. I'm much more easily distracted at work than Felicity in this story. I dashed this off pretty quick, so any mistakes are mine.
> 
> I miss Felicity so much on the show, so I felt like some light fluff was in order. A throwback reference or two as well. I hope you enjoy!

Oliver’s once a month foray out onto suspended scaffolding to wash the north-side windows was the most excitement Oliver had seen since his father “suggested” he take a job with Queen Consolidated, lest his trust fund be at risk.

(When Oliver’s father got him the job, this wasn’t exactly what he expected.)

Most of the building’s occupants ignored the slap of the wet rag or the scrape of the squeegee against the windows as Oliver systematically worked his way down Queen Consolidated’s façade. When Oliver reached the fifth-floor office he barely registered the back of a blonde head before he began his routine of soaping up the window.

The rag hitting the window with a dull thunk caught the blonde by surprise, he could tell, because she jumped in her seat. He chuckled to himself as she whipped around, red pen in her mouth. Her eyes went wide as she took him in, but Oliver quickly blocked his own view of her as he soaped the window. He had long enough to register that she was cute, with glasses perched on the edge of her nose – clearly, she had been deep in the zone when he interrupted her.

As Oliver squeegeed the soap away, he revealed her office once more, where she was still watching him. He mouthed ‘Sorry’ through the window as he tucked the squeegee back into its holder on his belt. The blonde smiled, and with a casual wave of her hand turned back around to face her computer. Oliver lingered for a moment longer than necessary before reaching for the pulley that would lower him to the next floor.

The cute blonde wasn’t the only person Oliver had startled that day, but she was the only one he remembered.

Over the course of the next month, Oliver kept an eye out for blonde hair and a red pen. He probably could have looked her up in the building directory, but he had a feeling that might not be welcome. If this woman had an office with a window at Queen Consolidated, she was probably too good for Oliver. 

That didn’t stop him from hoping he would run in to her.

While he didn’t see her, he did spend a lot of time thinking of ways to get her attention the next time he washed her windows. He was quite disappointed, then, when he lowered the scaffolding to the fifth floor, and saw that her office was empty. 

He secured the scaffolding into place, sweat beading on his brow as he cleaned the window. Just before he lowered himself to the next level, he paused to wipe his face with his shirt, exposing his abs to the air, and to the woman’s unoccupied office.

As he lowered his shirt from his brow, he glanced up to see the blonde, gaping open-mouthed from the doorway of her office, coffee held tight in one hand. Oliver was proud of his body, and even hunched over wiping his face, he knew the woman had gotten an eyeful. Oliver smiled a sheepish smile, before reaching for the pulley. As he lowered himself away from her window, he could see the blonde facepalming.

At least now he knew how to get her attention.

The following month, Oliver slammed the rag with more force than strictly necessary against the fifth-floor window. Much like the first time, the blonde jumped, before turning around and glaring through narrowed eyes out the window. He felt a little guilty for distracting her from her work, so he shrugged apologetically as he finished wiping down the window. 

He must have looked appropriately contrite because when Oliver cleared the soap off of the window the blonde was writing on a white board, red marker cap between her teeth.

When she flipped the board around, Oliver read _I’m going to put a bell on you_ off the board. Oliver laughed, putting his hands up in a placating gesture, mouthing ‘Sorry’ with a grin. The woman smiled, mouthed ‘it’s okay’ before recapping her marker and turning back to her desk.

Oliver smiled for days.

The next time he washed her window, he rang a large bell as soon as he locked the scaffold into place. He could see her shoulders shake as she laughed without turning around. It warmed him through the glass.

This time, when Oliver lowered himself to the fifth floor, the woman sat in her chair facing the window, whiteboard in her lap and red marker in hand. She scrawled a quick message, and hesitated, before turning the board around.

_I’m Felicity. Let’s get coffee._

Oliver’s first thought was admiration of her penmanship. Then he noticed her phone number was written underneath.

Oliver smiled as he fished his phone out of his pocket and punched in the digits. He shot off a text, trying not to look too eager as he waited.

_I’m Oliver. Glad I didn’t scare you off._

He couldn’t hear it, but he could see the phone light up on her desk. Felicity grinned as she reached for it, before quickly tapping out a reply.

_It’ll take a lot more than that to scare me off, Mr. Queen._

So, she knew who he was.

_Mr. Queen is my father._

He saw her start to text a reply, stop, erase, and start again three times before she ran an exasperated hand over her face and tried again.

_Right, Oliver. Let’s get that coffee, you can listen to me babble._

He smiled at her before replying, then slipped his phone back into his pocket, and started washing the window. As he applied the squeegee to the window, he could just make out her reading his reply.

_Looking forward to it._

The next month, when Oliver washed Felicity’s window, her office was empty. She had left the whiteboard on the windowsill, a message in red ink.

_Can’t scare me if I’m not here!_

_See you tonight <3_

_xoxo_

If he squeegeed the window in the shape of a heart, nobody but him needed to know.


End file.
